Reviews of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox Story - Film Review

Posted : 3 months, 2 weeks ago on 15 September 2009 07:16 (A review of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story)

Biopic films are a great way of remembering a legend, and im mocking those biopic films Walk Hard has created a legend out of Dewey Cox.
Walk Hard is the story of Dewey Cox (John C Reilly), a Johnny Cash-esque singer who after accidentally killing his brother has to prove his greatness, or be doubly great for himself and his brother. After playing “the devils” music a 14-year-old Dewey leaves home with his 12-year-old girlfriend Edith. Only to get a house and a job, and shortly a record deal by a group of jewish men. Along the way Dewey meets Darlene (Jenna Fischer) , an obvious reference to Walk the Line. has numerous children, wears two wedding rings, tries his hand at sexual carpentry, tries all manner of drugs and goes to rehab twice.
Towards the end of the film Dewey realises he should be spending more time with his family and so decides to play catch with them all one by one, he buys a large farm and the all live happily, until the return of Darlene and the family is then complete. A now 75-year-old Dewey listens to the rap remix of Walk Hard and a tribute to him before agreeing to one final performance on stage.
There are a lot of cameos in this film Johan Hill plays Deweys older brothers ghost, Jack White playing Elvis Presley, Frankie Muniz as Elvis as well as Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Justin Long and Jason Schwatzman playing the Beatles. as well as GhostFace Killah, Lyle Lovett, Jewel and Jackson Brown performing a Walk Hard tribute.
The film was written by comedy legend Judd Apatow, and Orange County director Jake Kasden, who also directs Walk hard. It should have been a sure fire hit, Unfortunately due to low box office sales the film is not seen for the comedic masterpiece it is.
The last thing im going to say in this review is I love Cox, why? Because its true, Walk Hard straight away jumped in to my top 25 films of all time with no competition. The story is great, John C Reilly is great and the soundtrack is my all time favourite movie soundtrack, which knocked the Lion King off of its 14 year reign. Id love to hear the other songs recorded for this movie, maybe one day there will be an extended, extended cut for that purpose.

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A surprisingly hard Comedy to resist.

Posted : 10 months, 1 week ago on 23 February 2009 07:18 (A review of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story)

''It's called Karate, man. Only two kinds of people know it, The Chinese and The King. And one of them is me.''

Singer Dewey Cox overcomes adversity to become a musical legend.

John C. Reilly: Dewey Cox

What a surprisingly funny and entertaining movie. This movie is one of the best spoofs on media stars to come out in a long time. Not only was John C. Reilly wonderful in his role as Dewey Cox, the entire cast was great. Special commendation must be afforded to Raymond J. Barry who plays Dewey's rambunctious father. Mr. Barry was truly hilarious. Now there a lot of nudity in this movie, but it's part of the story and without it the story of Dewey Cox could not be effectively told. If you like a clever script, strong comedic acting, and a movie that is a great parody of the entertainment industry and undoubtedly draws its material from the actual depraved behavior of some of the most well-known and internationally famous entertainment stars, then this movie is for you. Remember, though, the humor is adult and it's not for kids.

There are so many things wrong with Dewey the character. At times he can be downright nasty; most of the time he is thoughtless and self-centered. Nevertheless, the creators of this movie have succeeded in developing a character who, despite his myriad of shortcomings, is likable, and, unlike the mentally challenged and emotionally stilted Forrest Gump, is a creditable metaphor for the human condition - and for a Hollywood movie, that's impressive.

The actual material itself is fairly hysterical. There are plenty of laughs to be found at any given turn here, and many laugh out loud moments to go with them. Just watching these actors delivering their lines in purely serious ways, especially during the some of the film's most ridiculous moments (ironically, moments that fall very close to those found in Line or Ray), is just too much to not be able to laugh at. All of these actors seem very at home with the material, and look like they are having a lot of fun with their characters. This also seems to be one of the closest followed scripts of the past few Apatow films, and rarely does it appear that the characters are improvising (or they have just really improved from their consistent ad-libbing). The sets, backgrounds and costume designs, evoking the specific periods, are just as funny, if not more. There is a grand sense of authenticity at work here, and anyone watching the movie can pick out specific ties to their own memories (real or imagined) of those eras. Of course, there are a few too many nods to current fashion trends, but it stays very keenly in the area of that specific era depicted during that point in the film.

Reilly as Cox is a marvel in the lead role. He brings his more refined dramatic style to the role, and I think it helps lend a certain aura of credibility to the performance. He really makes this character his own, and when he is not being downright hilarious, without even breaking a grin, he is being heartbreakingly hysterical. It is a mixed bag, but Reilly makes it work, and he makes it work very well. His performance as the actor is only topped by his performance as the singer. He leads songs brilliantly at every point in the film, and even though the subtext of most of them is a bit risqué, they are still wonderfully written songs sung by someone with a great voice. If this role does not spring board Reilly into more leading actor work, it just may give him the needed boost to be a singer (or at least, to do more musicals or head to Broadway).

The supporting cast, although not nearly as funny as Reilly, all lend a hand in making Walk Hard a very funny movie. From Kristen Wiig and Jenna Fischer as Cox's wives, to Tim Meadows, Chris Parnell, and Matt Besser as his band mates, to Raymond J. Barry as his father, everyone manages to steal a scene for themselves, and manages to deliver some solid laughs. Yes, there are quite a few flat jokes that are given by the supporters much more often than Reilly as the lead, but for the most part, they do a great job backing him up. It also helps that it seems like everyone has some sort of minuscule amount of chemistry with Reilly, allowing their jokes to fly very easily.
Despite its faults, Walk Hard is a solid addition to the growing canon of Apatow comedies, and is one hell of a funny parody. Reilly was the best man for this role, and I am happy to say that he makes the film more than just watchable.

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Could have been better...

Posted : 1 year, 6 months ago on 2 July 2008 06:07 (A review of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story)

Edith: "What about my dreams?"
Dewey Cox: "Edith I told you I can't build your candy house! It will fall apart, the sun will melt the candy, it won't work!"

As a Judd Apatow feature, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is a slight disappointment with mild laughs. On the other hand, as a contemporary movie spoof of a genre then Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story surpasses expectations. No matter which category you slide this film into, you will never regard it as a modern masterpiece. This film is fundamentally a parody of recent music biopics. Quintessentially, the film's structure is profoundly influenced by the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line with additional parodying of biopics such as Ray. You recognise that you're in for an exceedingly enjoyable time during the film's opening sequence that is palpably a parody of Walk the Line. Soon enough the film is blemished with various tracks of fantastic music.

Walk Hard is a film concerning an iconic musician named Dewey Cox (Reilly) whose songs shape the music industry during the 20th century. As a child he accidentally slices his gifted brother (Hormess) in half with a machete. Dewey instigates his significant fascination in becoming a singer at the age of 14, much to the pungent opposition of his father (Barry). But he doesn't let this get in his way when at the age of 15 he's already married, has children, and becomes an idol among young ladies. Determined to establish himself as an even bigger star in the music industry, he begins his steady rise to fame before his legacy is threatened. As Dewey's love for music spirals out of control, he neglects the people that love him.

The regular formula is employed here for best effect. It seems the formula is coincidentally identical for every musician: at first they suffer through a childhood tragedy, then they're young and naïve with ambitions to reach stardom, then they create a massive hit and soon skyrocket to stardom. Then the drug addictions kick in (as well as the womanising...Dewey sleeps with 411 girls and marries three times), then comes prison and rehab followed by a long period of desolation. Cue the triumphant comeback close to the film's conclusion and the musician dies at the end. In a sense, Walk Hard cleverly satirises the formula by copying it. Every music biopic from The Doors to Walk the Line loyally follow this formula as the story of the protagonist in question enjoys a formulaic career. The filmmakers deserve kudos for this cleverly subtle touch that is extremely funny.

John C. Reilly rises above the common genre standard. Reilly sings all of his own songs and produces his own music. That feat itself deserves tremendous recognition. He sounds like Johnny Cash (because he's meant to, of course) when he sings the title song. It's interesting to note that when the character is in his 30s, he doesn't look any different to when he was 14. It’s only when Dewey reaches old age that his appearance begins to change. That's another brilliant subtle laugh. It's difficult to describe the supporting cast as characters disappear and reappear. Aside from Reilly, there aren't many significant characters to note. I will mention Jenna Fischer as the character of Darlene who becomes one of the main women in Dewey's life. Fischer's character is ostensibly representing the character of June Carter from Walk the Line that was played by Reese Witherspoon. They share a similar story with their respective protagonist. Raymond J. Barry is also very amusing as Dewey Cox's father, whose looks alone represent Robert Patrick's character from Walk the Line.

Overall, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is a reasonably disappointing spoof of the music biopic genre. When it comes to Judd Apatow I expected better results. There are a number of shrewd quality laughs, but most of these laughs are drawn from full frontal nudity (including a very detailed close-up of a man's penis), swearing, dumb characters and even potty jokes. In this day and age, this form of humour grows old. By all means, this film is far superior to rubbish such as Epic Movie and other brainless spoofs in that vein. After hearing a number of glowing positives regarding this film, I found it very disappointing.

5.9/10

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